"According to official state media, a doctor declared him dead after the 12-minute hanging, but when the prisoner's family went to collect his body the following day he was found to still be breathing.

"He is currently in hospital, but a judge reportedly said he would be executed again 'once medical staff confirm his health condition is good enough.' "

The BBC quotes an Iranian official as saying: "The verdict was the death sentence, and it will be carried out once the man gets well again."

Philip Luther, director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program, said: "The horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging, after having gone through the whole ordeal already once, merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty."